It is a sad truth that the same data can be analyzed different ways to get different results. Also, multiple models might be reasonable choices for a given dataset. Still, it is not a great feeling to wonder whether what seems like a subjective design decision is driving the results. In some ongoing work, we are …

When does blocking help? Should we always do it if we can? In this post we talk about how there are actually different kinds of blocking, and different ways of thinking about where blocks come from. The question of whether blocking can ever cause harm turns out to depend on these perspectives.